This was an insult to her, to the rest of the teaching staff, to the grand Palace of Beauxbatons – to France.

It was offensive enough that they had almost not reinstated her as Headmistress – especially after everything that had happened last year – but to come into her Academie and tell her who she could and could not employ was an absolute disgrace. The only reason Olympe had allowed this farce to continue was because there was no-one to complain to – it was the Ministère de la Magie, working on the orders of the Minister herself, and who was higher than the Minister of Magic? Nobody.

She and her remaining faithful staff were all that was remaining between the students and the Ministère. Several new appointments had been made without her consultation, among them the pretty brunette sat immediately to her left – the new Deputy Headmistress: a Bonaccord. Even her former student, Volker, was tied to the family that had members in every nook and cranny of the Ministère de la Magie. She wondered how many of the new staff members were also related to high ranking Ministère Officials.

Speaking of, to her right – in a place of honour – was Gaspard Gauthier; Head of the Auror Office. He was here in place of a fixed Défense et la Diplomatie professor. The Ministère had heavily suggested that an Auror be placed in the position, though, unsurprisingly, no one Auror had been willing to spend an entire year of their career teaching children. So they would operate in a rotation – changing monthly. Olympe had argued, of course, that there would be no consistency for her students, but apparently the Ministère knew better.

Olympe glanced along the top table in each direction, her head still held high, and met eyes with those who were still with her; Drina, Amina, Audra, Carolijn, Filomena, Celeste, Héloïse, and Gauvain. They would have to do it together, as one. She should be grateful, she supposed, that there were more familiar faces than unfamiliar ones. She only hoped the students would be sufficiently distracted by this year’s feast as to not ask too many questions.

The half-giantess got to her feet slowly and folded her hands in front of her. A handsome woman, time and stress was slowly beginning to take its toll on her. Her dark hair (now featuring more greys) was in a tight chignon, and atop her head was a crown of autumnal fruits and flowers. The Frenchwoman was wearing robes in deep maroon, adorned with leaves in shades of gold and orange and brown. “Bonsoir, students. Please, sit.” She forced a smile, particularly conscious of the first years who had only just joined their fellow housemates. “We have several new faces this year, and not just amongst yourselves. I implore you all to welcome your new professors as our family grows. You have met Professor Bonaccord before, who I am pleased to announce has been appointed to Deputy Headmistress.”

“I am also honoured to introduce Gaspard Gauthier, Head of the Auror Office at the Ministère de la Magie. This year you will be taught Défense by Monsieur Gauthier’s Aurors – quite a treat I am sure you will all agree.”

“Some of you may have read in the papers that the syllabus has been modernised. Your classes remain largely the same, but the content of some may differ to previous years. I can reassure you that your education remains our utmost concern, and you will still receive the very best tuition.”

“Now, I am sure you are all looking forward to the feast. You may notice I am dressed a little differently this year,” she turned slightly to each side, arms outstretched and a warmer smile upon her features as she showed off her harvest-themed attire. “We are here to celebrate the start of a new term and to give thanks,” she clicked her fingers and the tables filled with food and drink; bouillabaisse, salmon terrine, lobster bisque, French cheeses, boeuf bourguignon, gratin dauphinois, cassoulet… and rösti, fondue, currywurst and bratwurst, gazpacho, paella, moules-frites, neapolitan pizza, spaghetti alla puttanesca— For the first time, the Beauxbatons kitchens had produced food from every country that the school accepted students from. Each dish was served side-by-side, just as the students were sat side-by-side – with no separation based on their nationality.

“We give thanks for all the cultures that make Beauxbatons one family. Bon appétit!”

For dessert, along with the usual petit fours and patisseries there would be appeltaart, kirschtorte, churros, gelato, waffles, panna cotta, and tiramisu. Olympe didn't believe that food alone would knit the student body together in a time of political upheaval, but she hoped it would be a start.

[[ Feel free to post in this open thread and/or start your own spin-off threads! Sorting of first years would have taken place, as always, in front of the school before all students enter and head to the dining hall for the welcome feast. Please contact @Laura, @Olivia, or @Sioban with questions! ]]

Louis slipped into the seat next to Donatella -- as he had done every year since their second -- with a smile. A smile that quickly disappeared as the Italian witch rose to her feet and moved to go and sit beside @Sidonie Riviére and @Adèle Appel. He had thought that Nata would be over... that by now, but evidently he'd been wrong. He looked around his immediate vicinity sheepishly and hoped nobody had noticed. Thankfully most of his peers seemed more interested in the several new faces at the head table.

Louis shifted in his seat and tried to spot Ludo in the hall, for the Ombrelune boy was the first person who came to mind when it came to conspiracy theories and such -- their discussion last term had sparked something in Louis. It hadn't really sunk in at the time, but over the summer the French boy had become slowly more critical of the very organisation his family worked for. This was, perhaps, the evidence they had been waiting for. Ludo had been right.

But Louis was unable to find his friend before Madame Maxime began speaking. He turned and whispered to Jaspar, "New Deputy Head?" He raised his eyebrows, as if to communicate that this was unusual. Well, it was -- Professor Bonaccord had only been at Beauxbatons for a few months last year. Some of the professors had been here much longer and, he thought, had rightly earned that position. Even if it wasn't his Head of House, some of the others would have been more appropriate. His attention was quickly drawn back to the front as Maxime continued introductions.

By the time the food appeared Louis had all-but-forgotten the look Donatella had given to him -- for now, at least. Food was a good distraction at the best of times, but even more so this evening; there were the usual suspects -- boeuf bourguignon, crêpes -- and then there were foods that he recognised but had never seen at Beauxbatons: Italian pasta and Swiss fondue and German sausages. Louis grinned at Jaspar before reaching for a slice of pizza.

Manon read the newspaper that morning, like every morning. Today it took longer. She carried it with her on the ride to Paris, going over the articles again in the front seat of her mother’s car. In the carriage to school she wasn’t the only person with one. There was a lot of talk going around about the Aurors keeping an eye on Beauxbatons.

It was the sort of paramilitary move that was easy to justify: safety, after all, safety, after the year they’d had. How could that strike fear in her? But Manon had seen enough corrupt politics in her time as a witch to be suspicious. Never so close, though. In the Muggle world, and in Britain, but never at Beauxbatons. The Lead Auror they interviewed, Chantal Garnier... Manon remembered her. She had come last year to take over a class. Capable, authoritative—but young, barely out of school. What was she doing leading the Aurors? What had she been doing abroad; what successes was the reporter referring to? She’d have to find out at school if anyone knew.

The world news, in the meantime, was even more disquieting—at least, to Manon. Sweden was now legislating away the rights of Muggle-borns. Manon was more anxious to confirm this piece of information than anything. This was more than foreshadowing, more than armed inspections of a school. This was a dystopia already begun to form, and while the news about Beauxbatons had made Manon’s blood boil, this had sent a chill through her. She didn’t know who else in the carriage to ask. Anyone around her would call it disgusting, she knew that much. But if discrimination were to become law in France, she could’t know which of her classmates would turn with it.

In the Beauxbatons dining hall Manon sat, looking first toward the Ombrelune table to find Rémi—her best bet at some poitical fury—then silently toward their headmistress. Madame Maxime stood before them dignified as ever. Manon had never known what to think of her headmistress. She hadn’t ever been in enough trouble—or required enough praise—for them to speak. On top of that, her absence from the previous year was still unexplained, which, like everything these days, made Manon fear it was a sign of something sinister. But the barely-disguised rage on Maxime’s face as she waited to address them gave Manon a surge of affection for her.

Elisabeth took a seat the Ombrelune table -- close to @Ludwig Baumann -- and rested her chin on her fist, elbow on the table. Whilst they waited for the rest of the school to file in and be seated, Elsa busied herself with studying the several new faces at the head table -- particularly the two either side of her Headmistress. Professor Bonaccord was vaguely familiar -- she'd substituted Hypnosis towards the end of last year -- though why she was sat immediately to Madame Maxime's left didn't immediately click in Elsa's mind until she remembered what she'd read in the papers on the carriage ride to Beauxbatons earlier that day. The German's brow furrowed and her jaw jutted forward slightly -- how could it be that such a new professor was now their Deputy Headmistress if there wasn't someone pulling strings? Elsa didn't harbour any strong feeling towards any of their existing teachers having been snubbed for the role, but it seemed... off. Moreso when one remembered that the woman was a Bonaccord and a hypnotist. Maybe she had gotten the position through unfair means--

The arrival of someone in the seat on her other side (the side further from the head table) cut through her musings. She glanced to her right and rolled her eyes; Séverin. She gave him a look of contempt and turned her attention back to the front, twisting her body a little to fully block him out. Elsa didn't want to talk to him right now -- especially not in front of their housemates. She wasn't sure what she'd done to make it seem as though he was welcome to sit beside her. It was in her determination not to look at him that she noticed Ludo was wearing the Mousquetaire's badge -- Merlin help them. Didn't they look cute? The three students with some sort of 'seniority' all sat together like they'd planned it. If she could have done so without kicking up a fuss she would have moved. She felt Séverin shift next to her -- she assumed ready to say something -- but at that moment their headmistress stood, so Elsa practically shot to her feet.

They sat again on Maxime's cue, Elsa being careful to scoot just a little closer to Ludo and away from Séverin. Her frown deepened as their Headmistress spoke; why did she have the feeling this was a coded message? Almost like a cryptic call for help. The Ombrelune attempted to catch her fellow German's eye, but Ludo wasn't paying her any attention -- he himself had shuffled further along the bench, like he might catch something from being too close to a girl.

Ministry officials? She supposed after the mess of last year that made logical sense, and it would be invaluable learning from qualified Aurors -- it was the only other career Elsa was seriously considering outside of her childhood dream of becoming a professional quidditch player. If, after Séverin's appointment as captain, that seemed to be going down the drain, she was definitely planning on reverting to 'plan b' of going into Auror training.

Announcements and notices done, Maxime signalled the start of the feast and the long tables filled with food. Elsa's eyes grew like saucers -- her grandmother wasn't a poor cook by any means, but the food at school was always delicious -- and amongst the usual suspects Elisabeth saw there were dishes she recognised from home, from Germany. She glanced sideways at Ludo with a nervous sort of grin, "Bratwurst?"

His mother had prepinned his musketeer’s badge to his robes. Of course Ludo had to repin it, to make things perfectly straight, but he supposed it was a nice gesture. He didn’t want to wear it; he didn’t want to give anyone any reason to talk to him, but there it was, pinned to his collar, almost like he was proud of it. If anything, it just lowered his confidence in the school officials even more. It said a lot about their choices, but his expectations were far from high to begin with. The way things had ended last year had not instilled much of anything in him.

Ludo settled into his seat and studied the faces of who he could only assume were the professors. Blauvelt was still there -- great -- and the rest of what he saw didn’t make him feel much better. He sighed, scratching his forehead and rolling his eyes as the seats on either side of him were taken. He didn’t know why they thought he wanted to sit by them, especially the girl to the right. Were people already playing nice because of the badge? Merlin.

He rose at sat lazily as the rest of the student body stood to attention, and he scooched himself a bit farther away from Elsa as he resettled. It was bad enough that they had shared a carriage from Germany, though thankfully his little sister had been talkative enough for the whole group to never have to chime in.

His eyes widened at the mention of the new deputy headmistress, and he swallowed as Maxime went down the list of changes. He had been right, of course. The French Ministry was full of shifty ideas, as clearly evidenced by this new line up. Where was the intervention from Germany? Where was his offer to transfer to Durmstrang? His education remained of ‘their utmost concern’ and Ludo laughed. He rubbed his forehead, shaking his head before looking back at the headmistress.

Rolling his eyes almost immediately, Ludo sighed, though he supposed he really shouldn’t be surprised that they were trying to sweep all this ‘education reform’ under the rug by providing them with food. Of course he was pleased to see spätzle, and he was hungry, but that didn’t mean he was okay with all of this. He hoped his badge didn’t indicate any sort of conformity.

Bratwurst? Ludo glanced to his right, down at the bratwurst, past Elsa to his roommate on her other side, then back to Elsa. “Thanks,” he said (in German), pushing his plate toward her, half caught off guard, and half wondering if she was expecting him to have some sort of conversation. He erred on the side of caution, he supposed, and asked something he had been wondering since earlier in the day, only because he was concerned with being bested: “Did you have much time to study this summer?” Again he glanced at Séverin, not bothering speak in French in case he wanted to be included in the conversation.

It was always the worst kind of anxiety that took over when standing at the entrance to the hall and not knowing where to go. He could go sit with some housemates, they were generally nice to him, but it usually wasn't long before he realized they weren't really talking to him and starting wondering if he was intruding. He'd hate to be rude. He could go sit with his friends, yes he actually had some now, but they were all off sitting with other friends and those were people he didn't know so that wouldn't really work either. Instead he took a seat in the middle where the tables were usually a little less crowded, the front and the back being more popular among more social students. He was paying close attention to the grains in the wood of in the table, naturally, but he wasn't so blind that he didn't notice Donatella get up and move when Louis tried to sit next to her before coming to sit next to him. He didn't say anything, what could he possibly say, and if not for the Headmistress beginning her speech the silence would have surely grown quite awkward. He turned his gaze to watch the Giantess talk about the new year and then back to Louis, "Wonder what that's about....?" it seemed to be becoming a routine that something was amiss at school. Beauxbatons was full of intrigue, that's what his mother would say, but Jaspar wasn't as carefree as she was. Especially after almost being crushed last year by a tree-murdering Giant and then a professor dying.

He tried to pay close attention to what she was saying but his thoughts hung on the word 'modernized'. He wondered what she could mean by that.... he thought to look over at Anne and see what she was thinking but instead an enchanted piece of wet paper hit him square in the cheek and he wiped it off silently, already knowing it had come from Cosimo. Jaspar wanted to turn and find wherever the other wizard was and send him a dirty look so he would stop but he didn't. He never would. Instead he grew still, barely moving to put some food onto his plate in hopes that if he didn't acknowledge it it would stop. It didn't. A snitch shapped spit ball hit him in the shoulder and fell into his lobster bisque unceremoniously. Suddenly he wasn't feeling very hungry...

As a Muggleborn living in a very rural area, Adèle remained mostly oblivious to the goings-on of the magical world during the summer holidays, usually relying on her friends to bring her up to speed once she returned for the new term. More often than not there was nothing of any interest whatsoever to report, and everyone went on their merry ways.

This past term, that all changed. There was something undoubtedly nefarious afoot – Madame Maxime had been absent for much of term, professors had disappeared and turned up again (or not at all, in Professor Burgstaller’s case)…The normally-unassuming Adèle was growing suspicious, and decided that she would not spend another holiday in the dark.

A few days before she’d left for the summer holidays, she’d approached Professor Bellantoni – a fellow Muggleborn from a relatively rural upbringing – and asked how she might go about getting a subscription to the newspaper delivered to her home. The older woman had happily helped her put the request together (including a note that it was being delivered to a primarily Muggle setting, for mode of delivery purposes) and bade her a fun and restful summer, with encouragement to write at any time if there was anything Adèle needed.

She had chosen a random spot that ended up being few places away from Sidonie, and she gave a small wave in greeting when Donatella took an empty place near her.“Had a good summer?” Adèle asked, but that was about as far as she got before Madame began her annual speech and bade them sit. And it wasn’t until then that Adèle got a good look at their Headmistress – and her attire. She was handsome, as usual, but her choice of colors reminded Adèle of a rather large pumpkin. She bit her lips hard to hide a smile, but couldn’t help glancing over in her friend’s direction for silent affirmation.

But when she heard the word ‘Auror’, Adèle’s eyes flicked back to the front, settling on the unfamiliar man the Headmistress had just introduced. Aurors? At Beauxbâtons? The plot thickens…She had little time to dwell on it, though, before Madame Maxime announced a new twist: food from every country represented at Beauxbâtons! Adèle beamed – everything looked wonderful! She waited rather impatiently for Madame to give them permission to begin, which she did with avidity. And for a moment, she let herself forget about the strange political goings-on and why Aurors would now be teaching their Defense class.